I have a bone to pick!

First question: Why has no one asked for relief effort, or prayers, or got up in arms about, or even mentioned the oil spill in the south Atlantic? That's right! No one cares about remote African islands. I look at the CNN website at least once a day and never saw a thing about this. It was never breaking news. Apparently, after the Gulf oil leak, 16,000 tons (maybe up to 66,000 tons) of crude oil leaking into the ocean is no big deal. Oh, by the way, the island that the barge wrecked by is home 200,000 rockhopper penguins (more than half the worlds population) 20,000 of which were confirmed "oiled" on March 22nd, the day after the wreck.

Second question: Since when is it ok for police to pepper spray an 8 year old? I posted the link to the news broadcast about this. I had one comment. Sorry, I didn't get the memo that we were living in a police state now.

Third question is more like a statement. It's nice that so many people posted links to tell Congress to ensure military pay in case the government shut down. But, and this is a big but, what about the other 800,000 people who wouldn't have been paid? What about the 10 of thousands of small businesses that rely on government contracts, national parks, etc.? I'm not anti-military by any means, but I think the gesture was a little near sighted. They would have received back pay at least. Unlike the business that may have been permanently shut down or the hundreds of thousands Federal employees who would just have to suffer through it. Having Congress take a pay cut would only be a couple drops in the bucket. Their average salary is $174,000 a year. Yes it's far more than I'll make in the next couple of years, and it's above the average household income, but really, unless you cut their pay in half, it's not going to do much. Even then, it wouldn't accomplish much.

I almost lost sight of my point, which is that we need to open our eyes to the big picture here. That's pretty much it. If we let police brutalize children, ecological disasters go unnoticed, and the government control our lively hood, we need to take a long reflection inward and decide if this is the world we want future generations to inherit.

Feed the pig

If you have no idea what the title is about, let me bring you up to speed. Long story short, this creepy guy with a pig mask (who looks like something straight out of a horror movie) tells a guy with take-out coffee he can save bunches of money by brewing his own then says "feed me." Moral of the story is, sponsors of the commercial want you to save money and put it in the bank. Guess who the sponsor is?  The American Institute of CPA's. So  basically, the banks want your money. Our government wants us to spend more though. So what do we do? According to the Department of Commerce big companies have more cash on hand than ever. Holding out to that cash instead of reinvesting it is hindering our economic recovery. Again, that's what our government is saying, but there is an air of truth to that from my understand of economics.

When our economy is in the shitter, the value of the dollar, well, takes a shit. It doesn't just do it here though. The US dollar is, or rather was, a highly valued commodity on the world market and was the standard from which the value of other countries currency was judged. Are you with me? Maybe? Well basically what happened when it became obvious to the rest of the world that the US wasn't pulling its head out of the john, their currency became worth more. With, for all intensive purposes, more money, they started buy natural resources. Mainly OIL! Buyers in the US were beat out of the bidding because the only backing a dollar is debt. See why are gas prices are high? You thought all these hybrids would lower the price because supply and demand would drop? Not when you have developing nations that are starving for that liquid gold.

Back to the original question, save or spend? Spend on as much LOCAL, or as local as you can get, products. Don't break open your piggy bank to do it though. Sure the government makes more money on taxes off these big box retail stores, which does make the economy look good from a global perspective. However, there have been many big box chains that have crumbled, local business can survive for generations if care about our neighbors and spend a little more there. Not to sound all conspiracy theory, but with the mountains of debt behind the dollar and a global supply chain that runs on the ever costlier oil, how long do you think it will be before big retail crumbles? Buy local, because someday you'll need a place to buy food.
Of course that's just my opinion, I could be wrong.

Japan, Charlie Sheen, and things.....

I'm going to keep this kind of short, maybe.
Japan.....  What can I say other than I have such incredible respect for the people there. They have such a respect for each other, for the well being of their country. Let's start with the story of the volunteer firefighter who sprung into action just hours after the earthquake only to return and find his entire family gone, as was his entire neighborhood. While he regrets not being with his family, he kept on working because other people need his help. Or how about the 50 plant engineers who stayed behind to try and prevent a full scale nuclear meltdown even though they would probably be exposing themselves to lethal amounts of radiation. Do you think the union reps in the US would allow that? Then there are the little things like no looting, people only buying what they need so others can have what they need, conserving electricity so well that the government may not have to institute blackouts. Do you think any of these things would happen here?

Anyway, on a lighter note.... How about  Charlie Sheen? Who cares? Leave the man alone. I don't think anyone who has a life cares that he likes porn stars and prostitutes. Doesn't effect my life in anyway, shape or form. Other than the fact there is less entertainment on TV now. Hats of to John Stamos for turning down the role to replace Sheen because people love him in that role. Too bad the suits at WB had to throw a tantrum.

Even though it's a day late, I would like to clarify the facts on St. Patrick. There were never any snakes in Ireland. So how did he become a saint? Through religious persecution. "Snakes" were Pagans or non-Christians. Isn't it nice to know that the Church commends religious intolerance?

I'm going to go enjoy some sunshine. Goodbye seasonal affective disorder.

A brief introduction

Chances are that if you're reading this you know who I am. Just in case though let me say a little about myself.. Born and raised in Ohio, and despite the fact that I hate it here, this is where my family is. That is all the reason I need to stay. I came from a broken home, my parents were divorced, my mom was an alcoholic, my dad was a workaholic. Such is life, but it taught me what I didn't want for my family. I'm done with the mussy stuff now.

Now this is where you may decided you have no desire to read anything else i have to say. I don't like people who promote "gas strikes" because they clearly don't know how the economy works. I am pro-gun, pro-choice and all around pro-freedom when people act responsibly. When people abuse theirs rights, they need taken away. I like beer, soccer, violent movies with senseless nudity, and books about the zombie apocalypse. I believe the government is broken beyond repair and that most people have no clue how bad it really is.

The list of things I hate can go on for days, but that's why I started this blog. It's for me to rant, and maybe we can learn something from each other in the process. So I will say this once, if your criticism isn't constructive, keep it to yourself because I don't care. By the way, I forgot everything I learned in high school English so don't bother correcting me. I would like to point out, because I'm sure some of you will miss it, the things I hate are mostly things that have a negative impact on the things I love.

That is all for now. I have to make dinner.